diff --git a/src/base.js b/src/base.js
index 8850f28..391412f 100755
--- a/src/base.js
+++ b/src/base.js
@@ -501,10 +501,8 @@ var xdescribe = function(description, specDefinitions) {
 };
 
 
-jasmine.XmlHttpRequest = XMLHttpRequest;
-
 // Provide the XMLHttpRequest class for IE 5.x-6.x:
-if (typeof XMLHttpRequest == "undefined") jasmine.XmlHttpRequest = function() {
+jasmine.XmlHttpRequest = (typeof XMLHttpRequest == "undefined") ? function() {
   try {
     return new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP.6.0");
   } catch(e) {
@@ -522,7 +520,7 @@ if (typeof XMLHttpRequest == "undefined") jasmine.XmlHttpRequest = function() {
   } catch(e) {
   }
   throw new Error("This browser does not support XMLHttpRequest.");
-};
+} : XMLHttpRequest;
 
 /**
  * Adds suite files to an HTML document so that they are executed, thus adding them to the current